From ChinaCarTimes.com:
The S11 was first unveiled at the Shanghai Auto show earlier this year to an impressed crowd. The car was designed by Shanghai based TJ Innova, the S11 looks fantastic, with Audi and Ferrari design tones slipped into its sleak body, under the platform there is an AWD drivechain pushing power to each corner of the car. From what we hear the S11’s design is completed, and is now at the test stage and will soon be hurtling down the production line in Changchun city, although its not quite clear whose production line they will be using.
Toyota Motor, the Japanese auto giant, said Monday that it expected its first operating loss in 70 years. That would be the company’s first annual operating loss since 1938, a year after the company was founded, and a huge reversal from the 2.3 trillion yen, or $28 billion, in operating profit earned last year.
Toyota’s numbers show that the worst recession since the worst financial crisis since the Depression is threatening not just the Big Three, but also even relatively healthy automakers in Japan, South Korea and Europe. Other companies are expected to report losses as well.
According to analysts, next year is expected to be even worse. The economy is expected to suffer until next summer.
Are Chrysler and Nissan setting the stage for a walk down the aisle?
Nissan Motor and Chrysler announced a deal Apr. 14 to build key vehicles for each other. Starting in 2010, Chrysler will assemble pickup trucks for Nissan using a unique body style designed by the Japanese automaker. At the same time, a Nissan plant in Japan will assemble a Chrysler compact car for the struggling U.S. company.
The deal immediately shores up two big weaknesses for each carmaker. Nissan’s Titan pickup has been a loser since it was launched in 2003. Meanwhile, Chrysler’s compact cars have long been distant also-rans behind Japanese cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
Beyond that, this latest joint venture may be the precursor to something much larger. Cerberus Capital Management finalized its deal to buy 80% of Chrysler last fall. The New York-based private equity firm won’t want to keep the company forever. Meanwhile, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has repeatedly said he wants a North American partner for his French-Japanese carmaking alliance.
Sounds like it. Read on.
When Ratan Tata visited the home of the designer Ralph Lauren last autumn, the two auto enthusiasts spent much of their time in the garage, admiring Lauren’s extensive car collection, including the Batmobile-esque, 1955 Jaguar XKD.Now Tata, 70, is poised to take over Jaguar itself.
Tata Motors said Thursday that it was entering detailed talks with Ford Motor about the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover, confirming what investors and analysts in India, Detroit and Britain have anticipated for months. Tata Motors said that it aimed to reach an agreement in upcoming weeks.
Read more.
More innovation from abroad…
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it has developed a world-class driving simulator for effectively analyzing the driving characteristics of average drivers to aid in the development and verification of traffic accident-reducing active safety technology.
The driving simulator, located at TMC’s Higashifuji Technical Center in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, uses video, an acceleration simulator and other technology that allows vehicle researchers and developers to conduct driving tests that would be too dangerous to perform in the real world or that require specific driving conditions. Providing one of the world’s most-realistic simulated driving environments, it is designed to offer a driving experience that is as real as possible, so that driving characteristics can be accurately gauged.
Read more.
See the cars in all of their glory on CNN.
MARYSVILLE, Ohio, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ — The first Japanese auto plant to build a car in America(1) turns 25 today, marking a milestone that brought innovation to the U.S. auto industry and vaulted Honda (www.honda.com) to a leadership position. The 5,300 associates at Honda’s Marysville Auto Plant will not miss a beat as they spend the day building more than 1,800 cars and light trucks. Later this month, they will hit another milestone — production of the plant’s nine-millionth vehicle.
Associates recently launched the eighth-generation Honda Accord at the plant. The Accord was the plant’s first vehicle and it remains the plant’s core product. The U.S. is the most important market for the Accord by far, with sales of more than 300,000 units through September, mostly built in the Marysville Auto Plant. Nearly 80 percent of all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in America are built at one of Honda’s six auto plants in North America.
At 25 years, the Marysville plant and its associates continue as a driving force for Honda and the auto industry. Honda brought its unique brand of teamwork and associate involvement to manufacturing when it established Honda of America Mfg., Inc. near Marysville to begin motorcycle manufacturing in 1979. Success of that startup quickly led that same year to the bold decision to build an auto plant as well. At the time, the company was still a relative newcomer to the automobile business and only a fraction the size of Japan’s established automakers.
“People are always asking why Honda has been so successful,” said Honda of America President Akio Hamada. “The answer is simple: our associates. Their involvement and teamwork to achieve the highest quality for our customers and improve our operations have continuously driven us forward to higher levels and greater achievements.”
Honda’s approach to auto manufacturing was new to America with a foundation built on customer satisfaction, a high level of teamwork and a passion for overcoming challenges. The Marysville plant introduced many new concepts to the U.S. auto industry, including just-in-time parts delivery, quick die changes in metal stamping, rolling model changes to launch new vehicles without stopping production and a high level of flexible model production.
Honda’s automotive experience in Ohio became the model for Honda globally, Hamada said, in terms of local production, developing a local supplier network and recognizing the importance of working closely with communities. “We have been building cars in Ohio since 1982,” he said. “This has been possible because we have grown together with communities like Marysville.”
As the first Accord sedans began rolling off the line Nov. 1, 1982, Honda associates who were building cars in small numbers with nearly identical content and in only a few colors also had little manufacturing experience. In the last two months of 1982, fewer than 1,000 Accords were produced as the associates focused on mastering their car-building skills. By the end of 1982, they were making 160 cars per day.
The Accord was a much simpler product then, said Tim Hines, who was among the first associates at the auto plant. “While getting ready for mass production, we were producing maybe six cars per day, really focusing on assuring quality on every part of the vehicles,” Hines said. “Those were perfect cars, because we were learning to build quality first, and then the product.”
Today, the Marysville plant has the capacity to build 440,000 vehicles per year on two lines. Exercising the flexibility to build multiple models on the production line, associates have now added production of light trucks. In addition to the Accord sedan and coupe, they build the Acura TL luxury sedan, and the Acura RDX sport utility vehicle.
“The Marysville Auto Plant may be 25 years old on the outside, but it is a new plant on the inside,” said Plant Manager Sam Harpest. “It has always been changing, and there isn’t a more flexible plant in the industry with our level of quality and productivity.”
At one point during the launch of the ‘08 Accord sedan and coupe, production of the old and new models overlapped during the transition. “To the credit of our associates, this team carried out the most complicated model launch in our history,” Harpest said. “No other plant in America has the flexibility and experienced workforce to build six different vehicles at the same time.
The Marysville plant validated Honda’s philosophy to design, engineer and manufacture products close to the customer. Building on its success in Marysville, Honda has continued establishing plants in North America and the world to meet demand for unique products by building them locally in each region.
Today, Honda operates six auto plants in North America and a seventh, located in Indiana, will begin operations in fall 2008. The additional production of 200,000 Civics per year at that plant will help boost Honda’s total North American automobile production capacity to more than 1.6 million units in 2008, employment in North America to more than 37,000 associates and capital investment in North America to more than $9 billion. Honda annually purchases more than $17.6 billion in parts and materials from U.S. suppliers.
Visit Honda online at www.honda.com. Media can find high resolution images, broadcast-quality video and more information at www.hondanews.com.
TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Fifty years ago today, when tailfins defined the cutting edge of automotive styling and a handful of import auto companies struggled to sell 83,000 units, Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. began marketing quality cars and trucks in the United States.
TMS opened for business in America on October 31, 1957, in Southern California, and started selling cars the following summer. By the end of 1958, it had sold just 287 Toyopet Crown sedans and one Land Cruiser — a far cry from 2006 sales of more than 2.5 million cars and trucks.
“Over the years, our philosophies of continuous improvement and customer satisfaction have evolved but continue as the ultimate drivers of our success,” said Jim Lentz, TMS executive vice president. “We remain focused on providing American consumers with innovative, quality products for the next fifty years and beyond.”
Fifty years ago, the company started with just two models and 45 dealers. Today, the Toyota, Scion and Lexus lineups feature 27 models offered by more than 1,400 dealers across the nation.
After the Toyopet Crown’s lackluster sales performance, Toyota spent seven years carefully studying the needs of American drivers, returning with a new car, the Corona, in 1965. Designed specifically for American roads and tastes, the powerful, compact Corona was an overnight sales sensation and helped establish Toyota’s reputation for high-quality, dependable vehicles.
The Toyota Corolla was introduced to Americans in 1968 and has gone on to become the world’s all-time best-selling passenger car. By late 1975, Toyota became the best-selling import brand in the U.S., and later became the first international automaker to surpass sales of one million vehicles in 1978. In the same year, Toyota produced its first car built on American soil — the Corolla FX15 — at the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. plant in Fremont, Calif., a joint venture with General Motors. Today, Toyota operates ten plants in eight U.S. states with an eleventh plant under construction in Mississippi.
In 1989, Toyota established Lexus, its luxury line of vehicles, with the debut of the Lexus LS 400 and ES 250. The brand took off and is now the best-selling luxury line in America.
Toyota reached another milestone in 1997, when the Toyota Camry became the best-selling passenger car in the U.S., a title it has held for nine of the past ten years. A year later, Toyota launched its first full-sized American pickup, the Tundra.
Toyota marked the start of the new millennium with the launch of the Prius sedan, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle. Three years later, Toyota’s new, breakthrough hybrid technology, the “Hybrid Synergy Drive,” was introduced for use in the all-new 2004 Prius, now the best-selling hybrid in the nation.
In 2003, Toyota launched Scion, its third line of vehicles, featuring three modestly-priced, feature-rich vehicles under an innovative, youth-oriented marketing program. Bolstered by three strong brands, Toyota’s U.S. annual sales topped two million vehicles for the first time in 2004.
Toyota continued expanding its hybrid lineup in 2005 with the introduction of the world’s first luxury hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Toyota added a hybrid option to its popular Camry sedan in 2006, and began building it in the U.S. at its Kentucky plant. That year, the company also opened its tenth U.S. plant in San Antonio, Texas, to build full-size pickups along with its first truck plant in Princeton, Ind.
Also in 2006, Toyota launched the FJ Cruiser with a design that harkens back to the early years of the rugged Land Cruiser, the only vehicle Toyota has sold continuously throughout its entire 50-year history in the U.S. In the same year, Toyota reported sales of more than 2.5 million vehicles for the first time. Lexus was the leading luxury brand in the U.S. for the seventh year in a row in 2006, and posted best-ever sales for the tenth consecutive year.
During this year, its fiftieth anniversary in America, Toyota celebrated by introducing its largest pick-up truck, the 2007 Toyota Tundra, the second-generation of its iconic Scion xB urban utility vehicle, and the world’s first V8 hybrid, the Lexus 600h L.
Adding to the celebration, this year also marks the silver anniversary for Toyota Financial Services (TFS), the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the U.S. Growing from modest roots in 1982, TFS is now the third largest captive financial services organization in the U.S. with more than 3.5 million active customer accounts and $76 billion in total assets.
Since 1957, Toyota has invested more than $15.5 billion in its U.S. operations, and has produced nearly 14 million vehicles in the U.S. In addition, Toyota affiliates and dealers directly employ more than 34,600 people in the U.S.
For more information about Toyota, visit http://www.toyota.com.
When I was walking around the showroom floor at Detroit’s NAIAS, everyone knew that Toyota would overtake GM as the world’s largest carmaker… it now looks like GM got back the lead:
General Motors, which fell behind Toyota in global sales for the first time in the first three months of this year, has edged narrowly ahead of its Japanese rival in terms of 2007 sales.
Toyota global sales for the first nine months of the year hit 7.05 million vehicles, up 7 percent from a year ago, the Japanese automaker announced early Monday. GM released figures last week that showed global sales of 7.06 million, which was up just over 2 percent from a year ago.
Will be very interesting to see who finishes the year on top.
You can drive this thing sideways?? Not sure if thats a good or bad thing… Read more at Engadget.com
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